Dr. Yongmei Xi has been active in multidisciplinary fields of research from developmental biology to stem cell research including Drosophila neuroblast and neuroscience studies. Currently, Dr. Xi’s research focuses on the Drosophila models of neurodegenerative diseases, such as PD and ALS. She is using Drosophila as a convenient and high efficacy animal model to explore the physiological function and molecular mechanisms of the key factors related to human diseases. For example, one of the PTPs, PRL-1 has been demonstrated to have a neuroprotective role in olfactory CO2 perception. PRL-1 mutant flies could serve as a model for studying muscle spasm and limb spasticity related neurologic diseases.